The Swingrest is a popular item in Dedon’s line of outdoor furniture.
Dedon New Collections
(Took the 6 train to Spring Street)
A circular padded Swingrest hammock, wraparound wicker Dala upholstered chairs and tables, a magic carpet legless Fedro chair, award winning SeaX folding dining chairs are among the innovative designs introduced by Dedon outdoor furniture. Created two decades ago by soccer player Bobby Dekesyer who turned to business after an injury, the company focuses on artisan crafted pieces which are created in Germany and the Philippines and intended to enhance living spaces in the great outdoors. In addition to catalogs, guests received take-home hurricane survival kits stocked with candles, a flashlight and bourbon. www.dedon.de
Besides his noted paintings of boxers, George Bellows painted scenes depicting turn of the last century New York City
George Bellows
(Took the N train to 57th Street; “Scent” exhibit at Museum of Art and Design was postponed until next week. Caught the M-10 bus to 81st Street and transferred to the M-79 cross-town bus to the Metropolitan Museum.)
The week when post-Sandy New York City is focused on rebuilding and renovation, it puts our urban area in perspective to see the remarkable turn-of-the-century paintings of Ashcan School painter George Bellows (18822-1925)—pictures that show young boys swimming below the steep banks of the East River and in the Hudson, the excavation of Pennsylvania Station, pastoral scenes of Riverside Park—recording our town in the first two decades of the 20th century. Also in this retrospective, depictions of World War I suffering, Maine landscapes and fishing villages, and the dramatic boxing paintings for which Bellows is notably remembered. www.metmuseum.org
left to right: The Roentgen Writing Desk “unfolds” into multiple drawers, writing surfaces and cubby holes; Wood marquetry creates the pictures on a Roentgen Writing Desk.
Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens.
What is considered to be the most expensive piece of furniture in the world is almost an incidental highlight in this show displaying creations of the ingenious German cabinetmakers who craft wondrous desks, cabinets, tables, clocks for the likes of Catherine the Great, Frederick of Prussia and Marie Antoinette. Covered with pictures of gods and animals and actors all portrayed in remarkable wooden marquetry, the surfaces of bureaus and desks defy description, and then there are the intricate mechanisms which require step by step videos to demonstrate the intricate secret springs and knobs which pop open to reveal hidden drawers and strong boxes, inkwells and cubbyholes. If you happen to be there on time, a recording strikes out the tune played on the hour by a standing clock. Or listen to the music played by a doll-size Marie Antoinette striking the keys of a spinet.
Assembled on display for probably only this one time due to fragility of the items, the Metropolitan Museum is offering what is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity to view these description-defying treasures, which were the delight of royalty and kings. www.metmuseum.org
Founder Audrey Gruss greets guests at the HOPE for Depression Luncheon
HOPE for Depression Luncheon
(Took the M-3 bus down 5th Avenue to 65th Street and walked to 63rd and Park)
Soon to exceed heart disease and cancer, depression/mental illness is the world’s number four fatal disease. Thirty-eight thousand suicides—more deaths by gun than homicides take the lives of Americans each year. Eighty percent of the victims are men, the highest rate those over age 65. And for every death, six people close to the victims suffer in a ripple effect of grief. Those startling statistics were the focus of the annual luncheon seminar held by the HOPE for Depression Research Foundation, an organization founded by Audrey Gruss to raise funds to help promote inter-disciplinary study of the “last frontier of medicine” the brain. Introduced by newsman Chuck Scarborough, celebrity speaker author Candace Bushnell shared her own story of overcoming lifelong anxiety. Expert speakers held out the news that depression is a treatable medical condition and suicide is preventable, detailing steps that can help sufferers such as simply asking, “What’s wrong?” and listening. www.hopefordepression.org
Thom Filicia celebrates publication of his book “American Beauty” at Waterworks
Waterworks Salutes Thom Filicia’s New Book “American Beauty”
(Walked home, and later across 58th Street to Waterworks)
With guests meandering among the faucets and showerheads on display, the stylish bathroom fittings store was appropriately serving glasses of water, but also champagne, to celebrate Thom Filicia’s new book, which describes his love affair with the fixer-upper house he renovated in New York’s Finger Lakes area. Over 300 photographs follow the decorator’s two-and-a-half year transformation of the cedar-sided lakeside Colonial he happened to drive by one day into the house of his dreams. http://www.amazon.com/American-Beauty-Renovating-Decorating-Beloved/dp/0307884902
New book “Mismatch” was discussed at a reception sponsored by Center for the American University and by Common Good
Discussion with the authors of “Mismatch” How Affirmative Action Hurts Students It’s Intended to Help, and Why Universities Won’t Admit It.”
(Took the N subway from 59th Street to 42nd Street)
Common Good attorney and best selling author Philip Howard hosted a reception at his law firm Covington Burling to give writers Stuart Taylor, Jr. and Richard H. Sander an opportunity to present the thesis in their book. Among believers that the noble effort to jump start racial integration has devolved into a patently unfair system of quotas and concealment, the authors argue that preferences hurt underrepresented minorities far more than they help.
For higher education to achieve the goal of racial equality, they suggest full public disclosure of all preferential admission policies, a focused commitment to improving socioeconomic diversity on campuses, outreach to minority communities and a renewed focus on K-12 education. http://www.amazon.com/Mismatch-Affirmative-Students-Intended-Universities/dp/0465029965
At a QUEST Magazine reception at the new Arlington Club restaurant, vbeaute founder Julie Macklowe and her husband Billy introduce her skincare line to guests.
Quest Magazine Reception for Arlington Club and VBeaute?
(N subway from 42nd to 59th Street and switched to the 6 train all the way to 77th Street)
Dover Sole “Modern Menuiere” with preserved lemon, capers, fresh herbs, Papillote of Black Bass with shiitake coconut-lime broth, 28-day, dry aged Cote de Boeuf for two are among the signature dishes Chef Tourondel has created for the Arlington Club, a new eatery on the Upper East Side. Quest Magazine celebrated the club’s opening at a reception featuring the magazine’s September cover girl cosmetics executive Julie Macklowe. A former hedge fund manager, Macklowe has spent years working with chemists to devise her line of serious skincare products for the modern woman. Based on the anti-aging abilities of Swiss botanical stem cells from the Alpine Rose plant, the line of VBeaute focuses on dramatic delay of aging skin. Guests received five of the skincare essentials, in refillable sizes and packaged in a catchy It Kit gunmetal clutch.
Screening of “Hitchcock”
I arrived just in time for the Bryan Bantry screening of “Hitchcock,” a bio picture describing the creation of the director’s notorious film “Psycho.” For those of us old enough to remember Arthur Hitchcock’s deliberate introductions to his weekly surprise-ending TV broadcasts, Anthony Hopkins’ portrayal is truly believable. Helen Mirren is cast as his wife/collaborator, and Scarlett Johansson plays starlet Janet Leigh, the victim of the iconic shower scene.
left: Anthony Hopkins portrays the Master of Suspense in new film “Hitchcock”
